Why Lego is a symbol of lack of sporting creativity

Lego and sports clubs have become sterile environments Lego sets used to stimulate children’s (and their parent’s) imaginations. In the 1970s the goal of Lego was to use imagination and explore as you can see in the letter on the right. Now, Lego blocks are almost always sold as part of some marketing tie- in…

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Excelsior ADC awarded Sport England Grant

Excelsior ADC awarded £8756 from Sport England I am delighted to announce that we have been successful in our application to Sport England’s small grants programme. The money will be used to develop the Weightlifting section of our club. The grant we will be used in 3 main parts: Equipment: we shall be buying Eleiko…

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Bring back the 80s: Why today’s child is less prepared for sport.

Childhood obesity

Childhood obesity on the rise, kids unprepared for sport In the news this week was the worrying fact that children as young as 7 are already becoming less active. The rise in childhood obesity can be seen in Primary schools. This trend can be seen since the 1980s and has an implication for sports coaches…

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Let your child play sport rather than just compete

Children need to play more and compete less Children who get injured or burntout may be competing at sport too much and have too little opportunity to just play. These words on shoulder operations by Hall of Fame baseball player John Smoltz ring very true. “I want to encourage the families and parents that are…

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Fuelling athletes in the real world: Dave Ellis

healthy breakfast

“Athletes have an inability to recover from one beat down to the next”

dave ellis fuelling tacticsDave Ellis presented twice at GAIN on fuelling athletes and supplementation. He is quite simply the best person I have seen talking about nutrition and feeding athletes in the real world.

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7 Things I Learnt In 2016

sports coach cpd

Reflective practice I try to learn more than 7 things a week, let alone a whole year, but part of reflective practice is being disciplined and accountable. Limiting myself to listing the 7 things in a year helps focus my mind and stop readers from being bored. Speaking on the phone to Mark Sheppard yesterday…

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5 ways to keep your hockey team fit all season

“The best way to stay in shape is not to get out of shape”

Jim Radcliffe.

As coaches we are here to help our athletes improve their skills and enable them to play as much as possible. Keeping players fit for the whole season can be a hard task and we often have to deal with injuries throughout the season.

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Bite Size Agility

agility for goalkeepersI am trying to make agility workouts more frequent, more specific and a lot shorter in duration than has previously been done for the athletes I work with.

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“What are the best vegetables to eat?”

Powerhouse your diet with the best fruit and veg

the best fruit to eat for sportA new study1 has identified 41 “Powerhouse” Fruit and Vegetables which can significantly improve health. These nutrient dense foods have been found to be the most effective in reducing chronic disease.

Here is a review of the main findings of the research, as well as some practical guidance for getting the most out of your nutrition:

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